More Than Honey

Synopsis

Oscar-nominated director Markus Imhoof tackles the vexing issue of why bees are facing extinction. From California to Switzerland, China and Australia he investigates this global phenomenon. Exquisite macro-photography of the bees in flight and in their hives reveal a fascinating world in crisis.

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Incredible, fascinating, beautiful creatures. Gorgeous, often mindblowing doc. Not as depressing as I'd braced myself for: Humans do, indeed, suck... but, in the film anyway, the ones who respect and study bees and bee intelligence suck a bit less. Which only makes sense (and might even be hopeful?); there's a lot we could stand to learn from them.

Yet more evidence that the factory farm concept of mass production for maximum profit is having a heavy impact on the potential well being and health of the planet. Common sense and probable longevity are ignored while money can be made. This applies to the cattle and stock industry as much as the pollination infrastructure captured here. 'I'm getting used to death on a mass level'. Shame.

Insightful doco on the most important yet most overlooked creature on the planet, the honey bee. Charting the use and abuse of the insect who is responsible for all of the fruit we eat, we see China who's pesticide abuse resulted in the total destruction of the bee population; pollination now done by humans one flower at a time. This is yet another timely reminder of the fragility of our eco-system. 3 stars

Excellent documentary. Beautiful visually, great insight into how bees are organized and how complicated ecosystems bee hives are. I personally enjoyed the stories of people from different continents, cultures, backgrounds involved professionally in the bee "business", to see how different their motives and approach to bees were...

Good but perhaps skirts around some of the issues and doesn't really do enough to address the problems facing bees. Some lovely footage, though, and a few fascinating people. Worth a watch but didn't blow me away.